The Preppers Wife

Shirley Ready is a new literary contributor to The Ready Center Blog. Shirley Ready is a mother, wife, member of the U.S. Military, and a new face in the prepping community. We are greatly looking forward to Shirley’s fresh outlook and unique perspective on family preparedness. Please take the time to welcome her to The Ready Center Blog and as always, enjoy the article. – The Ready Center

As the spouse of a prepper, when it all began (the prepping), I thought we were on the road to “Crazytown”. Images of Brendan Fraser in “Blast from the Past” flashed through my head as I wondered what crazy bunker our family would live in. Then Doomsday Preppers fueled my concerns for our children having a normal life. Some of these people were a bit beyond “normal” and as a result, I could see their families stretching because of it – living in shipping containers, growing massive gardens that consumed their yards, and going to storage extremes. There was a strain in some of the spouses’ demeanors that said, “My husband/wife dragged me into this.” Some preppers even hid their preps from their spouse!

I’m not sure there’s anything more nerve-wracking for a mother than to take a serious look at the state of our country. Watching the news and the people on the east coast BEGGING for help from the government after Hurricane Sandy shook me to a new understanding. These people might have been prepared for the wind and rain and hunkered down for the storm, but they weren’t ready for the aftermath… the power outages, the food and gas shortages, or the crime. And now they were turning to their government to save them. As a mother, I want to protect my children, but if the unexpected happened to us tonight… would I be ready to take care of them or of myself? Could we stay afloat without external assistance?

Amidst all of this, my dear hubby took me aside and calmed my fears. That didn’t have to be us… but if we didn’t prepare for something, we could be caught unprepared by anything! He explained that by simply buying a bit of extra food for the cabinets, extra paper towels and napkins, and some other extra necessities, I was already prepping! In my mind, I was trying to make less grocery trips and save money buying bulk and with coupons, but isn’t that the same thing? I was preparing to go longer between visits to the local store to buy necessities. He got me to understand that we were headed towards the same goal, just in different ways. Most importantly though, he did what is important in having a family that is prepared – he got me to understand how I could help him prepare our family. We are now a prepping team!

It’s been easy, and thanks to some smart thinking on his part, I don’t feel like we’re headed to “Crazytown” anytime soon. For example, one simple step he supplied me was to stack pile of post-its right next to our grocery list. The rule is: you go shopping, you take the top post-it from the post-it pile.

It’s not just a regular stack of post-it notes, each has a preparedness item written down on it. And not a single item on the list costs more than $8 (most are actually under $3). So every time I grocery shop, I put another $2-8 item in the cart and when I get home it get’s set aside to help us prepare for the future. What else can you invest in that sparingly that will have such important dividends in the future? Now I know if an earthquake or storm hits, we won’t be like everyone else running to the store to get emergency supplies. Thanks to this very small step – and prepping in a way that works for our family AND our budget – we can be ready for anything!

As The Ready Center posts more articles and touches on more topics in regards to preparing for the unexpected, remember that this is not a one-size-fits-all type of operation. However, it IS important to get your family (or roommates) on board if you plan to survive TEOTWAWKI together. It’s not all about buying $5,000 bunkers or storing a 50 year supply of cheese for 10 people. It’s about finding what works best for you and following through!